Board Game Arena - User contributions [en]

Gamehelpcastleofmadkingludwig

2025-08-15T14:42:21Z

Khaim: /* Completion Rewards */ Explain room completion

== Set up ==

== Round Structure ==
'''1. Upkeep'''

- Place a coin (from the bank) on each room left in the market from the previous round.

- Refill empty spaces in the market by drawing cards from the room deck and taking a room from the indicated pile.

- Pass the Master Builder marker.

'''2. The new Master Builder rearranges the rooms in the market in any way they like.'''

'''3. Other players may each buy one room, ''paying the Master Builder''. The room must be placed immediately in a legal position in the player's castle'''

- A player may buy a stairs or hallway from the supply instead of buying a room. The cost is always 3000 and is still paid to the Master Builder.

- A player may pass to take 5000 from the bank.

'''4. Finally, the Master Builder may buy a room from whatever is left in the market. The Master Builder pays the bank. They may buy a corridor or pass, as usual.'''

== Room Placement ==
'''All rooms:'''

- Each new room must connect to the entrance of a room already placed.

- Rooms cannot overlap

- There must always be at least 1 external entrance to the castle.

'''Downstairs Rooms:''' Downstairs Rooms can only connect to the bottom of stairs, other downstairs rooms or a downstairs hallway.

'''Outdoor Rooms:''' The fenced edge of an Outdoor Room cannot touch another room.

'''Activity Rooms:''' Activity Rooms give penalties if they touch certain types of rooms, as indicated on the room.

== Scoring ==
'''Rooms'''

Rooms are scored as they are played. This includes points for the new room (top left corner), connection bonuses/penalties of the new room, connection bonuses/penalties of surrounding rooms, and downstairs rooms, as well as completion rewards.

Connection '''bonuses''' require rooms to share a doorway; touching walls or a blocked entrance is not enough. Connections score per connected room, not per doorway: connecting two rooms by multiple doors does not count extra.

Connection '''penalties''' from activity rooms do '''not''' require doorways. Any adjacent room (of an indicated type) which is touching the activity room subtracts points.

Downstairs rooms do not require any adjacency. Bonus points from downstairs rooms score for any matching room in the castle.

'''King's Favours'''

King's Favours are scored at the end of game. Ties are split, e.g. if two players tie for 2nd, they each get 3 points (4+2 divided in two).

1st ⇒ 8 VPs

2nd ⇒ 4 VPs

3rd ⇒ 2 VPs

4th ⇒ 1 VPs

'''Bonus Cards'''

Each player scores points for their bonus cards.

'''Depleted Stacks'''

Each room whose stack is empty is worth an extra 2 points. For example, if the stack of 100-size rooms is empty, then each 100-size room on a player's board scores 2 points. Only the stack in the supply matters; some of the rooms might still be in the market, the bonus will score as long as the stack is depleted.

'''Money'''

1 VP for each 10 000 of money leftover

== Completion Rewards ==
A room is completed when all of its entrances are connected to entrances on other rooms. A room with a blocked entrance (leading to a wall) cannot be completed. Each room type offers different rewards upon completion.

'''Activity Rooms''' [[File:Ludwig Activity Room.jpg]]''':''' 5 VPs

'''Corridors'''[[File:Ludwig Corridor Room.jpg]]''':''' Gain and place a free Hallway or Stairs.

'''Downstairs Rooms'''[[File:Ludwig Downstairs Room.jpg]]''':''' Your choice of one of the other completion reward for every 2nd completed Downstairs Room. (Maximum once per turn)

'''Food Rooms'''[[File:Ludwig Food Room.jpg]]''':''' Extra turn

'''Living Rooms'''[[File:Ludwig Living Room.jpg]]''':''' Re-score the completed room, including connection bonuses.

'''Outdoor Rooms'''[[File:Ludwig Outdoor Room.jpg]]''':''' 10 000 in coins from the supply

'''Sleeping Rooms'''[[File:Ludwig Sleeping Room.jpg]]''':''' Choose 0, 1, or 2 rooms from a stack of your choice to be placed on top of the room deck.

'''Utility Rooms'''[[File:Ludwig Utility Room.jpg]]''':''' Draw 2 new bonus cards and keep 1 of them.

Gamehelpcastleofmadkingludwig

2025-08-15T14:39:06Z

Khaim: Scoring details

== Set up ==

== Round Structure ==
'''1. Upkeep'''

- Place a coin (from the bank) on each room left in the market from the previous round.

- Refill empty spaces in the market by drawing cards from the room deck and taking a room from the indicated pile.

- Pass the Master Builder marker.

'''2. The new Master Builder rearranges the rooms in the market in any way they like.'''

'''3. Other players may each buy one room, ''paying the Master Builder''. The room must be placed immediately in a legal position in the player's castle'''

- A player may buy a stairs or hallway from the supply instead of buying a room. The cost is always 3000 and is still paid to the Master Builder.

- A player may pass to take 5000 from the bank.

'''4. Finally, the Master Builder may buy a room from whatever is left in the market. The Master Builder pays the bank. They may buy a corridor or pass, as usual.'''

== Room Placement ==
'''All rooms:'''

- Each new room must connect to the entrance of a room already placed.

- Rooms cannot overlap

- There must always be at least 1 external entrance to the castle.

'''Downstairs Rooms:''' Downstairs Rooms can only connect to the bottom of stairs, other downstairs rooms or a downstairs hallway.

'''Outdoor Rooms:''' The fenced edge of an Outdoor Room cannot touch another room.

'''Activity Rooms:''' Activity Rooms give penalties if they touch certain types of rooms, as indicated on the room.

== Scoring ==
'''Rooms'''

Rooms are scored as they are played. This includes points for the new room (top left corner), connection bonuses/penalties of the new room, connection bonuses/penalties of surrounding rooms, and downstairs rooms, as well as completion rewards.

Connection '''bonuses''' require rooms to share a doorway; touching walls or a blocked entrance is not enough. Connections score per connected room, not per doorway: connecting two rooms by multiple doors does not count extra.

Connection '''penalties''' from activity rooms do '''not''' require doorways. Any adjacent room (of an indicated type) which is touching the activity room subtracts points.

Downstairs rooms do not require any adjacency. Bonus points from downstairs rooms score for any matching room in the castle.

'''King's Favours'''

King's Favours are scored at the end of game. Ties are split, e.g. if two players tie for 2nd, they each get 3 points (4+2 divided in two).

1st ⇒ 8 VPs

2nd ⇒ 4 VPs

3rd ⇒ 2 VPs

4th ⇒ 1 VPs

'''Bonus Cards'''

Each player scores points for their bonus cards.

'''Depleted Stacks'''

Each room whose stack is empty is worth an extra 2 points. For example, if the stack of 100-size rooms is empty, then each 100-size room on a player's board scores 2 points. Only the stack in the supply matters; some of the rooms might still be in the market, the bonus will score as long as the stack is depleted.

'''Money'''

1 VP for each 10 000 of money leftover

== Completion Rewards ==
Each room type offers different completion rewards.

'''Activity Rooms''' [[File:Ludwig Activity Room.jpg]]''':''' 5 VPs

'''Corridors'''[[File:Ludwig Corridor Room.jpg]]''':''' Gain and place a free Hallway or Stairs.

'''Downstairs Rooms'''[[File:Ludwig Downstairs Room.jpg]]''':''' Your choice of one of the other completion reward for every 2nd completed Downstairs Room. (Maximum once per turn)

'''Food Rooms'''[[File:Ludwig Food Room.jpg]]''':''' Extra turn

'''Living Rooms'''[[File:Ludwig Living Room.jpg]]''':''' Re-score the completed room, including connection bonuses.

'''Outdoor Rooms'''[[File:Ludwig Outdoor Room.jpg]]''':''' 10 000 in coins from the supply

'''Sleeping Rooms'''[[File:Ludwig Sleeping Room.jpg]]''':''' Choose 0, 1, or 2 rooms from a stack of your choice to be placed on top of the room deck.

'''Utility Rooms'''[[File:Ludwig Utility Room.jpg]]''':''' Draw 2 new bonus cards and keep 1 of them.

Gamehelpcastleofmadkingludwig

2025-08-13T12:20:46Z

Khaim: Basic round structure

== Round Structure ==

# Upkeep
## Place a coin (from the bank) on each room left in the market from the previous round.
## Refill empty spaces in the market by drawing cards from the room deck and taking a room from the indicated pile.
## Pass the Master Builder marker.
# The new Master Builder rearranges the rooms in the market in any way they like.
# Other players may each buy one room, ''paying the Master Builder''. The room must be placed immediately in a legal position in the player's castle.
## A player may buy a stairs or hallway from the supply instead of buying a room. The cost is always 3000 and is still paid to the Master Builder.
## A player may pass to take 5000 from the bank.
# Finally, the Master Builder may buy a room from whatever is left in the market. The Master Builder pays the bank. They may buy a corridor or pass, as usual.

Gamehelpcastleofmadkingludwig

2025-08-13T02:50:53Z

Khaim: Delete AI slop

Gamehelprivervalleyglassworks

2025-07-26T15:40:00Z

Khaim: Rewrite

===Overview===

Collect Glass out of the River and Lake to add to your Glasswork to accumulate sets of the same colour.

===Turn===

On your turn, either Place in the River OR Draw from the Lake.

If you Place in River, put a glass from your satchel in the river segment that matches its shape, then collect all the glass from an ''adjacent'' segment and put those in your Glassworks. Alternatively, place two pieces of the same shape in ''any'' river segment and collect from an adjacent segment.

The segment collected from is moved to the start of the river and new glass is added to it from the supply based on the number of stone icons on the adjacent segment.

If you Draw from the Lake, take 4 glass from the lake into your satchel, then refill the lake. Your satchel can only hold 5 glass; any extra are put in your overflow area and deduct points.

===Glasswork===

During the Place in River action, you add the new glass to your Glasswork display.

Each column accommodates a single colour. If the glass color you gathered is present in your Glasswork, add it to the corresponding column. If the column is full, extra glass of that color must go to the overflow area.

If the glass you gathered is NOT present in your Glasswork, add it to the next available column on the lowest row. If you have multiple new colors to add, you can choose which order to place them. If you run out of columns (there are seven columns but eight colors) then the last color must go to the overflow area.

On the side of your Glasswork, there is a chart to show how common or rare a particular color of Glass is.

===Game End===

When a player has placed at least 17 pieces of glass in their Glasswork (not including Overflow), the end game triggers.

At this point, any player with less than three glass in their Satchel draws from the bag (NOT the Lake) until they have three glass.

Finish the current round, then take one more round.

During this time, Draw from Lake is NOT an option anymore.

After all have finished, scoring occurs.

First, score points for each row based on how many consecutive spaces are filled. Rows must be filled from the left; any row without a piece in the leftmost column does not score. Row points are listed along the bottom of the board.

Secondly, score your 2 highest columns, gaining listed points at their highest filled space. If two columns are the same height, score the leftmost one (i.e. if tied, you'll always score the lower scoring tower).

Finally, lose 3 points for each glass in overflow.

The player with the most points wins!

Gamehelpratsofwistar

2025-05-18T22:40:50Z

Khaim: Clarify one Chief/sector, list costs for fast actions

== Overview ==
In Rats of Wistar you will play the role of one of the four rats who organized the escape from the famous Wistar Institute.

The game takes place over 5 rounds, and you will score Victory Points (VP) as follows:
* building Beds
* digging Rooms
* solving Missions within the Farm
* welcoming Guest Mice
* creating new Inventions
* claiming Objectives

At the end of the game, the player with the most VP will be the winner. In the event of a tie, the player tied first in the turn order wins.

For a more detailed description of the game, please see [https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/264375/rats-of-wistar-rulebook the game rulebook on BGG].

== Gameplay ==
The game is divided into 5 rounds (which represent the 5 days during which the challenge between the families of Rats takes place). Each round consists of 2 phases to be carried out in the following order:
# New Round Phase
# Actions Phase

=== 1. New Round Phase ===
''This Phase is skipped during the first round, and is 99% automated during the next ones.''

In the New Round Phase, the following steps are carried out:
: a. Update the turn order based on the position of your Chiefs on the Alchemist’s Hut. If there are no Chiefs on the Alchemist’s Hut, the turn order doesn’t change. If there are multiple Chiefs of the same color, consider only the position of the leftmost Chief to determine the turn order change.
: b. Take your 3 Chiefs back from the Board and put them back on your Player Board.
: c. If still present, discard from the game the Guest Mouse tile of the previous round and reveal a new one from the top of the Round stack.
: d. Turn the Action Wheel 1 Sector clockwise (60°).
: e. Receive income from the Invention cards you have played and the tiles on your Player Board with the icon . All players can do this step at the same time. In the rare event that you need to follow an order, follow the turn order
: f. 1x Invention cards become available to use once more.
: g. Discard the 2 rightmost cards from the display of Basic Invention cards into the corresponding discard pile; slide the remaining cards to the right of the display and restore the row of 4 face-up cards, drawing two new ones from the deck. Do the same with the row of Advanced Invention cards.

=== 2. Actions Phase ===
: Following the turn order, take your turn by placing a Chief on the Action Wheel or on the Alchemist’s Hut to perform the corresponding actions. '''You may only play one Chief in each sector''' during a round. You are allowed to play on both sectors in an area.
: During your turn, you can also perform one or more Quick actions that do not require placement
of the Chief.
: When all players have completed their 3 turns (i.e. they have placed their 3 Chiefs), the Actions Phase and the current round end.

=== 2.1 Wheel Actions ===
To perform a Wheel action, you must place your Chief in a free space on a Sector of the Wheel. Then carry out the corresponding Main and Bonus actions, in the order you prefer.

There are 6 different Main actions, one in each Sector of the Wheel, split between 3 Areas. Note: The strength of your action equals the number of workers in the Area next to the Sector where you placed your Chief. You can use Bonus actions and movement tokens to move workers before performing the Main action.

==== ACTIONS IN THE FOREST AREA ====
==== Collecting Wood ====
Take a number of Wood tokens equal to the Strength of your action.
==== Digging Rooms ====
You can dig as many Rooms as the Strength of your action. Each Room costs 2 Metal. Each time you dig a Room, remove the Underground tile with the lowest VP value from your Player Board; keep the Underground tile in your play area. You will use Rooms to host Bed tiles and Guest Mouse tiles. Each Room can host only 1 tile. At the beginning of the game, you have 3 Rooms already available. If you want more, you must remove the Underground tiles from your Player Board performing the Digging Rooms action.
==== ACTIONS IN THE LAIR AREA ====
==== Collecting Metal ====
Take a number of Metal tokens equal to the Strength of your action.
==== Building Beds ====
You can build as many Beds as the Strength of your action. Each Bed costs 2 Wood. Whenever you build a Bed, take the Bed tile with the lowest VP value and place it into a free Room on your Player Board. Place
the Worker that was over the tile on the space above (the entrance of your lair). You will be able to move this Worker to the Board using the corresponding Quick action. If you have no free Rooms, you cannot perform this action.
==== ACTIONS IN THE FARM AREA ====
==== Developing Projects ====
This action allows you to take new Invention cards and add them to your hand. You have as many Project points available as the Strength of your action. Taking 1 Basic Invention card costs 1 Project point; acquiring 1 Advanced Invention card costs 2 Project points.
You can choose cards from the display, or you can draw them from the top of the decks. At the end of your turn, restore the rows of Invention cards by sliding the remaining cards to the right and refilling the empty spaces with new cards drawn from the corresponding decks.
==== Exploring ====
This action allows you to enter the Farm and explore its Rooms with your Explorer. You have as many Exploration points available as the Strength of your action. You can repeat the same action several times, provided that you have the necessary Exploration points and fulfill all the requirements.
For each Exploration point, you can perform one of the following actions, as indicated in the upper left corner of the Board:
# Opening a door;
# Moving the explorer;
# Revealing a Mission Card;
# Taking a Guest mouse.
=== 2.2 Bonus Actions ===
Bonus actions are distributed in the various Sectors of the Action Wheel in different ways depending on the number of players:
# Moving workers;
# Taking a Joker Token;
# Taking a Basic Invention Card;
# Taking Metal;
# Taking Wood;
# One Exploration point;
# Obtaining the Alchemist Potion;
# Taking the Guest for the current round;
# Playing an Invention card;
# Resolving a Mission.

==== Playing Invention Cards ====
To play an Invention card, you must meet the requirements indicated on the card. The requirement may consist of:
* a payment in Wood and/or Metal,
* a payment in Movement tokens,
* the possession of a specific type of Invention cards,
* the possession of specific icons (on cards in your play area or on your Skill tokens),
* the possession of the Electricity token, Basic or Advanced,
* the presence of Guest Mouse tiles on your Player Board,
* having digged a certain number of Rooms.

You have to pay Wood, Metal and Movement tokens (discard them back to the general supply, as usual); on the other hand, you simply have to own all the other items that grant you the requirement (cards and tokens with the required icons, cards of the indicated type, the Electricity token and the Guest Mouse tiles), without discarding them.
Once you have met the indicated requirements, place the Invention card face up in your play area.

From now on, the card is active and produces its effect, which is different according to the type of icon printed on it. See the game rulebook for a detailed description.

==== Resolving Missions ====
Mission cards are inside the Rooms of the Farm. You can only resolve a Mission if:
* the Mission card has been revealed (it doesn’t matter by which player);
* the Mission card is in the same Room as your Explorer or one of your Tents.
Each Mission card consists of 3 rows representing 3 different Missions. Each row contains one or more requirements, equivalent to those of Invention cards,which must be met to obtain the corresponding reward.

When resolving a Mission as a Bonus action or as a result of other game effects, choose a row on the Mission card not already occupied by a Cube (yours or another player’s). You must meet the requirements indicated in that row; then, place one of your Cubes from your Player Board in the designated space and immediately obtain the indicated reward.

==== Abilities of the Player Board ====
There are 10 spaces on your Player board where you place your Cubes at the beginning of the game. Each space shows an ability that you unlock when you move the related Cube on a Mission card.
The Cubes from the “brown” spaces (6 in total) can be placed on any Mission card; the Cubes from the “grey” spaces (4 in total) can be placed only on Basement Mission cards.
See the game rulebook for a detailed description.

=== 2.3 Alchemist Actions ===
The Alchemist’s Hut, unlike the Action spaces on the Wheel, can host any number of Chiefs, even from the same player.
When you choose to perform the Alchemist’s action, place your Chief in the Alchemist’s Hut, to the right of any Chief already there. Immediately gain 1 Movement token and the Alchemist’s Potion.

'''Important''': The position of the Chiefs on the Alchemist’s Hut determines the next round’s turn order. If you have performed this action multiple times, consider only the position of your leftmost Chief to determine the turn order change.

The Alchemist’s Potion allows you to perform one of the following actions:
# Play 1 Invention card;
# Resolve 1 Mission;
# Take 1 Metal;
# Take 1 Wood.

=== 2.4 Fast Actions ===
During your turn, you can perform a Fast action before or after each Main or Bonus action. You can perform any number of Fast actions on your turn and repeat the same action multiple times.
* Buy a Joker token for 3 resources/cards;
* Buy or upgrade the Electricity token for 4 resources/cards;
* Use a Movement token;
* Use a 1x effect;
* Put Workers on the Board for the first time;
* Pitch a Tent;
* Claim an Objective.

=== End of the Round ===
When all players have completed their 3 turns and placed their 3 Chiefs, the Action Phase and the current Rounds end. If there are still Guest Mouse tiles in the Round stack on the space of the Board, start a new round; otherwise, the game is over.

=== End of the Game and Final Scoring ===
The game ends at the end of the 5th round (the Round stack on the board is empty). Update the turn order according to the position of your Chiefs on the Alchemist’s Hut, as described in the New Round Phase.
Then, calculate your final score by adding the following VP to the Victory Points scored during the game:
* VP indicated in the Ability spaces on your Player Board from which you have removed a Cube;
* VP indicated on the highest-value space on your Player board from which you have removed a Bed tile;
* VP indicated in the highest-value Room on your Player board from which you have removed an Underground tile. You score the VP regardless of whether or not the Rooms are occupied by Bed and/or Guest Mouse tiles;
* VP indicated on the Guest Mouse tiles on your Player board, including any Cheese tile;
* VP indicated on Invention cards in your play area;
* VP from Invention cards in your play area with an End Game effect;
* 2VP if you have the Advanced Electricity token;
* 1VP for every 5 items between Wood, Metal, and Movement tokens in your play area and Invention cards still in your hand, in any combination;
* 1VP for every 2 Joker tokens in your play area.

The player with the most Victory Points is the winner. In the event of a tie, the tied player rst in turn order wins.

Gamehelppotionsofazerland

2025-05-05T14:55:59Z

Khaim: Typos, delete misleading "as many as possible"

Gameplay takes place over a series of 6 rounds with each round broken up into 4 separate phases:

1. Refresh

2. Order Priority Tiles

3. Drink Potions

4. Execute Actions

Players will gain Prestige through Fulfilling the orders of Visitors who come to their town seeking potions. At the end of 6 rounds the game is over. Final points are tallied and the player with the most Prestige wins!

Forage:
Roll a number of dice to gain Ingredients that are required to Brew potions.

Study:
Increases Study level for each potion type. Study gained may be split up between potion types.

Market:
Buy Market cards and gain the rewards shown. Cards purchased are not refilled until the end of the round.

Brew:
Brew potions in exchange for Ingredients. Each potion type has its own required amount of Ingredients.

Fulfill:
Fulfill Visitor cards in exchange for potions. Gain the rewards and the Prestige shown.

Actions players want to prioritize should have lower numbers whereas actions players are less concerned about should have higher numbers

Bugsclarification terraformingmars

2025-01-03T20:44:50Z

Khaim: /* Rules */ Grammar fixes. Bullet points should show better for in-game page.

== Rules ==
At this point its very unlikely that this is a an issue (or it has been already reported)

These are common cases of rules misinterpretation:

;My tags are not counted properly
* Event tags are NEVER counted. They only matter when playing of the event for discounts and effects.

;I cannot claim a milestone
* No more then 3 milestones can be claimed (out of 5).
* No milestone can be claimed in solo game.

;I placed a forest but it does not increase oxigen
* Placing a forest after last generation does not increase oxygen.
* Placing a forest when oxygen is at maximum does not increase it.

;I had to reduce my own production even it was red bordered
* Production reduction is MANDATORY. If you cannot reduce somebody else's - you have to reduce yours.

;I should be able to skip removing animals if its red bordered
* Only when it is an effect. Removing resources to activate card is MANDATORY (i.e. Ants)

;I cannot remove animal from Pets
* You cannot remove animals from Pets. They live in the house - predators cannot get to them.

;I could not remove animals/microbes/plants from opponent
* Removing animals/microbes/plants is not possible from PETs or when your opponent has Protected Habitats in play.

;Solo mode game ended at generation 12
* This is the rules for Prelude (when playing with prelude it ends at gen 12).

;Search for life does not give me extra points
* It only gives 3 points MAX. Amount of life you found does not matter.

;My corporation's first action is not executed
* The corporation's card text "as your first action" actually means it is a mandatory action you must take on your TURN, it is not part of game setup.

;I was able to do thing not allowed by the rules
* Some cards effects violate the common rules - please carefully read the text on the card before submitting bug about a specific card.

;I did not get discount for a card
* Game applies all discounts automatically. You see discounted price.

;I should not be able to spent 8 heat to increase temperature when it is at max
* You can do some actions which seem to be unreasonable (such as spending 8 heat when temperature is at max). This move is allowed by the rules and can be legally played as a stalling technique.

== Evidence ==
When you reporting bugs (vs suggestions) you have to provide evidence in the report itself - which is either text of game log or screenshot.
Use Copy Log button (when clicking on gear button) to generate log and game situation details.
If you don't it will be closed as "worksforme" as we cannot spent time loading replays - it takes forever.

Tips obsession

2024-12-27T20:22:59Z

Khaim: /* Special Actions */ special actions cost reputation, not VP

===Normal mode===
You'll want to begin in Normal mode when you are initially learning the game. The learning game is essentially a race for Prestige since VPs increase expotentially with Prestige. All the starting families are relatively balanced (except Wessex which should not be used in learning games). Generally, you will want to take an action each round that allows you to flip an unflipped building tile in your Estate and then purchase an improvement. You will likely need to pass once or twice during the course of the game for optimal play. Your actions should generally be guided by the Objectives which you are dealt.

==== Selecting Objectives ====
During the learning game, you will want to avoid objectives that require 3 specific building improvements, 10 servants, 3 identical servants or require buildings which are not immediately available on the Builders' Market. These lofty Objectives are more suitable for extended play when you are more familiar with the mechanics of the game and have more rounds for these objectives to be achieved. Ideally, you will have two Objectives which overlap slightly so that you can begin to direct your strategy accordingly.

==== Starting the game ====
In order of importance, your starting actions will be:

#Bowling Greens: you are going to need money to purchase your first improvement. Furthermore, you will want to have first pick of the building improvements. In general, you will need to ensure that you have enough money to purchase improvements in almost every round which makes inexpensive improvements extremely valuable since they tend to also require the fewest gentry.
#Butler's Pantry: you are going to need to get 2 additional servants to survive the gruelling seasons ahead unless there is a surplus of Service improvements in the Builders' Market (or you begin with the York family). In order of importance recruit: ladies maids, footmen then valets. Keep in mind that each servant is worth 2VPs at the end of the game and nothing gets done without them.
# Main Gazebo: Prestige guests are a wonderful way to earn VPs and you are going to start to need to plan for the National Holiday which is when your Prestige does not limit your actions.
#Front Parlour: Keep your family's Matron in your hand until you are ready to perform this action since she can help attract desirable Casual Guests or dismiss undesirable Casual Guests (negative VPs).
#Private Study: this is the least likely action that you will need to do in a learning game. There are only 2 Village Fairs in the normal mode vs 3 Village Fairs in extended mode: this is an essential action in extended mode. Furthermore, it provides 3 VP if you do not flip it.

==== Special Actions ====
2 Reputation for $100: if you are short a little money and it will not impact your Prestige level, then feel free to use this.

3 Reputation for Servant: during your learning game, you should avoid having to use this more than once during the entire game.

4 Reputation for Builders' Market: definitely do not recommend during learning game since you can always Refresh the Builders' Market by Passing.

==== Fairchild choice ====
In general, Elizabeth Fairchild is the better choice because she can provide a Prestige Guest (VPs).

=== Extended mode ===
Once you have mastered the normal mode, it will be time to try the extended mode. This is when the game truly flourishes with its complexity and nuance since all the Objectives can now be achieved and you frequently have to select those which you anticipate to yield more VPs. Utilizing the Private Study as a first action becomes more important because it yields 3 Village Fairs. Managing your Butler and Housekeeper will be critical since there is a plenthora of activities which will constantly demand their attentions. You will need to use your family's Matron judiciously since there will be many more undesirable Casual Guests to manage.

===Tile guide===
Sporting (green) provides money

Prestige (purple) provides reputation

Estate (red) manages Casual/Prestige Guests

Service (blue) manages servants

Essentials (brown) are miscellaneous actions